The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-08-25
CoAL-MINE RATS.
privileged Characters Among Diggers-
Stealing Dinners and Gnawing the
EetiocEa of Mules,

county, sswhen one wants to pay Inc
highest possible compliment to another
persons intelligence he says he knows
as much as mine rat. And this is a
compliment, too, can tell you. for a
mine rat knows enough to satisfy any
man. They not only know heap, but
they do funny things. / have known
them to break up long strike in the
mines when every other effort to bring
ii to close had failed. and remember
instances when they have become SO
numerous in mines that it was necess-
ary to suspend operations until they
could be thinned out by attacks OF the
miners.
tIn one mine near Hazleton, where
live, the rats were so numerous few
years ago and became so bold that it /
was impossible for the miners to keep
any feed for themselves, and even the
soap, lamp oil, and other supplies used
intheir work were devoured by the
army Of rats that eyerran the chambers.
The persistent animals would gnaw
through the tool boxes in very short
time and get at the supplies. The
miners were forced to bury their /
dinner-pails beneath piles of slate and
coal to prevent the animals getting at
the contents, and even then they fire. |
auently dug down and secured the |
victuals. Many time a miner would |
I be compelled to fight horde Of hun |
Qry rats that disputed with him for the |
possession of his lunch.
fssIn the mine am speaking OF the
I rats not only robbed the mules of all
their feed, but attacked the mules
themselves. 1t was common thing for
miners, going to work in the morning,
TO find the floors covered with hundreds
g ofrats that had been trampled to death
by the mules, and it seemed to be a
fayorite act with the rats to gnaw the
fetfocks of the mules, frequently eating
them away, notwithstanding the frantic
tramping of the mules and the scores
of their own numbers that were crushed
beiieath the mules feet. / have my
seH seen mine rats covering a stable
door foot deep, having thus fallen
Victims to their greed for live mule
q desh.
..In this mine matters got so desper.
ate for the miners that something had
a 70 be done. The mules grew thin and
weak and could not do their work
The miners got tired of losing their
dinners day after day, and it seemed to
he n question of only short time when.
it would be impossible to work the
mine at all. So at last the operators
ordered the mules taken out and work
abandoned until the rats could be ex-
terminated. Poisoned food was scat
cred about in tile mine and left there
do its work. This was done so effect
ually that three days afterward, when
the men re-entered the mine, they
found the tunnels so thickly strewn
with dead rats that the carcasses filled
three mine-cars holding ton and a
half each.
s.As asgeneral thing coal miner will
not harm rat. Some miners would
as soon think of killing his children as
he would of killing mine rat. The
reason of that is that these animals
will not stay in a mine where danger is
threatened. Miners say that these
rats have instinct that warns them OF
pending fall of roof or similar acci-
dent in mime, and when they are
seen scampering away from one Sec
ton of the mine to another the work
men know they are giving them a
danger signal, and they hurry away in
response to it, aud the chances are that
there will be a cavein in the section
thus abandoned. / know of several
instances where the lives of many
miners have been saved by this belief
in the rat as danger signal, and also
of the loss of life by others who ridi-
culed the idea. Once, near Hazelton,
the rats left mine in droves, and the
men-there were fifty of them at work
lost no time in getting out also. Be
fore the day was over the entire section
where they had been working caved in.
Atsharleigh, few years ago, thel q
was a similar case, except that three
of the miners refused to quit work.
The fall of the roof closed them in, and
their bodies were never recovered.
Seventeen mules perished with them.
Theifall was so great that tile mine
was destroyed and no attempt was
even made to work it again.
fsThe belief in mine rats giving
warning of danger is based on good
grounds. The theory is that when a
mine begins to work, as the quiet set
ting of one preparatory to a big cave
in is called, the rats are disturbed in
their holes and hiding places as they
became contracted, and they hurry
away to seek places of safety. That
is all there is about it, but the miners
attribute it to something much deeper
than that simple cause, and conse-
quently have feeling for the mine rat
4AAAt " dsfC
..It is a common sight to see miner
feeding half a dozen or more from his
dinner-pail. Frequently they become
sotame that they will climb on a miners
1ap as he sits at his lunch, and crowd
around him to receive such portions OF
his meal as he taught them to accept.
Some of them grow to an enormous
size, and there is a story told among
fhe miners near Hazleton about how
one of their number once fed and
trained a dozen or more, which had
grown to such dimensions that he used
them in harness. and they drew his
buggy of coal daily from the breast
: where he worked to the dumping place.
There are people who don't believe
that, but it was told to me by a man
who worked with the miner who had
the rats, and he says it is fact. But
I've seen mine rats myself as big as g
powder-keg.
.sIt is during strike in the mines,
when the workings are abandoned fol
the time, that the mine rats are especi
ally annoying to mining villages. The
rats leave the mines and swarm about
the dwellings of the workmen. l re-
member once there was strike at one
efsthe eolheries. Both operators and
miners refused to give In, and tht
bosses declared that grass would grow
around the mouth of the slope before
TREY would consent to the demands o
the men, while the men swore the,
would cut the grass and eat it, i
necessary, before they would yield ;
single point. The mules were takeI
from the mines and turned ou
to pasture, The rats being thus de
prived of their sustenance, ahandone.
tie mine and took up their quarter
ab1a1t the miners houses, where they be
eAmB terror to the families. The strik
continued and the supplies of the mel
became exhausted. Miners at neigh
boring collieries who were at work re
sponded to the requests of their strik
ing brethren for aid and sent them
wagon load of supplies of various kinds
These were taken in charge by com
mittee and stored in building, from
which they were to be distributed t.
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